The disclosure relates to an electrical terminal or contact for use with a mating pin or blade contact to join electrical wires or other electrical conductors together.
It is well known in the art of electrical connectors to provide a receptacle contact or terminal for the receipt of a pin or blade contact where the receptacle terminal has contact beams which extend from a receptacle body and are profiled to electrically engage a pin or blade contact upon insertion thereof. This contact between the receptacle contacts and its corresponding pin or blade contact interconnects the pin and receptacle contacts and results in an electrical connection between the two and their associated terminated conductors.
Multiple different requirements are involved in such an electrical device, particularly when used in a multi-position connector and/or when used in application with specific environmental concerns, for example when used in an automotive connector.
One requirement that may be necessary for multi-position connectors, is that the contact must be capable of sealing. In some cases, a discreet wire seal is crimped to individual contacts around individual wires, and the contact and its associated seal are inserted into an aperture in a connector housing. In other cases a rear seal is provided having a multitude of apertures through which individual contacts are inserted where the contacts are larger than the hole through which they extend, as the holes are nominally provided to sealingly engage the discreet wire to which they are connected.
One electrical receptacle is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,945 (incorporated herein by reference) where dual beam contacts are provided in a reversely bent sense such that their free ends overlap. The present disclosure provides an orientation feature that may be used on a terminal used with the receptacle of U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,945 and other receptacles. A described embodiment of the orientation feature presents a metal edge that has been cut such that abutment of the cut edge to a seal during introduction of the terminal into a housing does not result in the seal being cut or damaged.